A gritty Waratahs side have fallen just short against the Lions on Saturday night, as Andy Farrell left Sydney with more questions than answers.
Despite winning 21-10 in front of 40,568 fans, the Lions head coach was left scratching his head on several occasions as the tourists fumbled their way through a diabolical performance at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Up against a Super Rugby outfit that missed the finals and were missing most of their best, including Wallabies Angus Bell, Dave Porecki, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Langi Gleeson and Jake Gordon, the Lions only managed a three tries to two win.
The Lions’ frustrations were summed up by the 13 penalties and 20 turnovers they conceded, so it was no surprise that Farrell said he was “frustrated” and “disappointed” that his side couldn’t do more with the 70 per cent territory they had.
“There’s a bit of frustration there,” Farrell said.
“It’s nice to get a win but I suppose at this stage we’re trying to judge the performance a little bit more. Disappointed enough with the amount of possession and territory that we had and how we dealt with certain situations.”
Their performance was summed up by three errors in the final five minutes, including a disallowed try, a penalty kick that went dead in goal and a spilled ball from captain Tadhg Beirne.
Alex Mitchell was the Lions’ best during their ugly 21-10 win over the Waratahs at Allianz Stadium on July 05, 2025. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
Halfback Alex Mitchell was one of the few who enhanced his reputation, with the halfback scoring and delivering sharp service all night.
Midfield pairing Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones, who scored twice for the tourists, also had a strong first half.
Waratahs flanker Charlie Gamble was his side’s best, with the flanker having a field day and making the most of a Lions side that looked like they had just met each other. To be fair, in many ways they had after Farrell made 14 changes to his starting side – and it showed.
Waratahs flyer Darby Lancaster was also excellent for the home side, with the off-contract winger scoring a try, winning a turnover and looking every bit a professional player. But, at this point, the former sevens winger is without a home in 2026.
Taniela Tupou, meanwhile, got through 55 minutes and helped set up one try, but his scrummaging once again came under the microscope. It led to New Zealand referee Paul Williams blowing the Waratahs off the park at the crucial set-piece area to leave Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt and his assistant Mike Cron with much to ponder.
His Test teammate Andrew Kellaway saw little of the ball, while Wallabies Matt Philip and Tane Edmed came on late.
Acting Waratahs captain Hugh Sinclair, who was playing his final match in blue, said he was proud of his side’s effort despite going down.
“It would have been good to win,” he sad.
Rank outsiders heading into the clash, Sinclair said his side found a bit of motivation from being written off.
“There’s been a fair bit of media coverage about the Lions winning by 50 every week. I saw something about it’s going to be worse than the Tahs losing 96-19 to the Crusaders. It just gets you fired up,” Sinclair said.
“It would be nice to get a bit of positivity around Aussie rugby. I know we’ve been struggling a bit. We had a crack tonight. Why can’t we put a bit of pressure on and make a game of it? Hopefully the Test series is a cracker.”
Darby Lancaster celebrates after scoring against the Lions at Allianz Stadium on July 05, 2025 in Sydney. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
There were signs from the outset that the Lions were going to be in for a tough evening as fit-again fullback Hugo Keenan knocked on and the Waratahs countered and almost scored.
But quickly the Lions’ set-piece strength came to the fore and a scrum penalty in the 11th minute allowed the visitors to kick for the corner and get inside the attacking 22 metre zone. Moments later, the Lions had their first try as Jones burst onto a nice short ball from Tuipulotu to score.
The Waratahs threatened to strike back immediately when Mack Hansen, who struggled in the greasy conditions, was penalised for obstruction from the kick restart. But the Waratahs knocked on soon after.
A turnover from Gamble allowed the Waratahs to return into the Lions’ attacking zone and three more penalties followed soon after.
While Williams warned the Lions, the referee didn’t go to the pocket.
Rubbing salt into the wound the Waratahs thought they had scored through Gamble from the rolling maul, but Fergus Lee-Warner was pinged for an early push.
Minutes later the Lions had their second as Jones barged over again.
But the Waratahs hit back quickly as Lancaster found some space out wide after some good quick hands from Tupou and Rob Leota.
The Lions were made to pay for blowing another chance on the stroke of half-time when the Waratahs crossed immediately after half-time through hooker Ethan Dobbins. Jack Bowen missed a kickable penalty to keep the home side four points adrift.
Eventually it was left to Mitchell to do it all himself and score. The cunning halfback broke away from a maul, played the short side, dummied and broke free to score.
But that was where their pay on the scoreboard ended as Ellis Genge dropped the ball in the process of dotting down. It was a theme to come in the final 20 minutes as the Lions left Sydney underwhelming winners.
Now, many of Farrell’s chargers will hope they get another chance in Sydney in a month’s time when the third Test is played. But on the evidence of Saturday’s result, few might.
